Well tubing injector and removal apparatus

ABSTRACT

Well tubing injector and removal apparatus having means for feeding the tubing from a reel into a well and vice versa while maintaining the tubing under tension between the reel and the tubing injector unit, whereby level winding and unwinding of the tubing relative to the reel is assured and dangerous movements of the portion of the tubing between the reel and the injector unit due to wind and other causes are avoided.

United States Patent 11 1 3,6 ,270 Slator et al. 14 1 Apr. 25, 1972 541WELL TUBING INJECTOR AND 3,393,415 7/1968 Ciaccio ..242/54 R x REMOVALAPPARATUS 3,313,346 4/1967 Cross 3,380,545 4/1968 Kemper ..242/86.5l X[721 Inventors: Arch" Wilson, both 3,334,839 8/!967 Carlson ..242/86.5lof Houston, Tex 2,670,153 2 1954 Hair ..242/s6.51 73 Assignee; BowenToms Inc" Houston, Tex 2,654,548 10/1953 Hopkins ..242/86.5l

[22] Filed: June 10, 1970 Primary E.\-am1'nerStanley N. GilreathAssistant E.taminerMilton Gerstein [21] Appl' No" 44,921 AltarneyPravel,Wilson & Matthews [52] US. Cl ..242/54, 242/7553, 242/8651 [57] ABSTRACT[5 l] ..B65h 75/00 58 Field 6: Search ..226/176 172 166/.5-415/150- andY apparatus haYmg means 242/54 5 86 feeding the tubing from a reel intoa well and vice versa while maintaining the tubing under tension betweenthe reel and the [56} References Cited tubing injector unit, wherebylevel winding and unwinding of I the tubing relative to the reel isassured and dangerous move- UNITED STATES PATENTS ments of the portionof the tubing between the reel and the injector unit due to wind andother causes are avoided. 3,469,273 9/1969 Caperton ..242/54 R X3,176,335 4/1965 Ciaccio et al ..242/54 R X 7 Claims, 3 Drawing FiguresPAIENTEUAPR 25 I872 3, 658 270 SHEET 2 OF 2 7N? hm Q a..-

ww i .1 m m MM) u i- M [\IRW Q \h a h i Av h $.0 k J\\\\ Ni Mi. 1 x; i5b mm $3 J w 6 El EU a V W \m w\ flame)? Z J/dfor Arcfi/e W/'/J0/7 INV ENTORJ uma? Him 6 MaHLewA fl TTOR N E YS WELL TUBING INJECTOR AND REMOVALAPPARATUS BACKGROUND or THE INVENTION The field of this invention isapparatus for feeding tubing into and out ofa well.

In the past, it has been found desirable to inject a continuous tubingfrom a reel into a well, using various types oftubing feeding apparatussuch as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,182,877; 3,285,485; 3,313,346; and3,330,531. None of such prior art discloses a satisfactory apparatus forfeeding a well tubing between a reel and an injector unit. Thearrangement suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 3,313,346 involves the use of alarge loop formed by the tubing between the reel and the injectorapparatus, which arrangement is especially undesirable because of thespace required for the loop and the danger of excessive movements ofthetubing in high winds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatusfor the feeding of tubing from a reel to a tubing injector unit, andvice versa, wherein the tubing is maintained under tension and in asubstantially straight line in the span between the reel and theinjector unit so that level winding and unwinding of the tubing relativeto the reel is effected while dangerous movements of the tubing in highwinds are avoided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is an elevation of thepreferred form of the apparatus ofthis invention, shown in position formaintaining welltubing or pipe under tension and in a substantiallystraight line from a reel to the tubing handling apparatus; and

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the apparatus of FIG. 1 to furtherillustrate the reel which is preferably utilized in the apparatus ofthis invention; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of the hydraulic system of thisinvention which is used to control the operation ofthe reel and theinjector or handling unit.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the drawings, the letter Rdesignates generally the reel unit or assembly of the apparatus of thisinvention, and the letter I designates the injector or handling unit ofthis invention for the feeding in and the pulling out of well tubing Trelative to a well or other bore in the ground, the upper surface ofwhich is indicated at G (FIG. 1). As will be explained more in detail,by the utilization of the control means or system of FIG. 3, the reelunit R and the injector unit I are controlled so that the tubing T isfed off of the reel R and is wound on the reel R from the injector unitI under tension at all times so as to facilitate the level winding ofthe tubing T with respect to the reel unit R and to prevent excessivemovement of the tubing T in high winds.

The details of the construction of the reel unit R are disclosed incopending United States patent applications Ser. Nos. 36,780 and 84,415.Briefly, for the purposes of this invention, the reel unit R includes adrum having side flanges 10a between which the tubing T is wrapped. Thedrum.l0 is driven by a hydraulic motor MR (FIG. 2) which has a pulley l2or other suitable driven means therewith for connecting with a belt orchain 14 which is in driving engagement with another pulley or sprocket15 secured to the drum 10.

A level wind mechanism M of any suitable construction is mounted withthe reel drum 10 and is adjustable to different positions such as thesolid line position of FIG. 1 and the dotted line position of FIG. 1 toassist in maintaining the tubing T in a straight line from the drum 10to the injector unit I, as will be more evident hereinafter. Adjustabletelescoping supports of any suitable construction are provided on a skidor other base 21 for the entire unit R so as to position the level windmechanism M at the desired elevation with respect to the drum 10. Theskid 21 is preferably mounted upon a truck or other bed 22 having wheels23 therewith so that the unit is portable, although it is not necessaryfor the skid 21 to be so mounted, since it may be positioned directlyupon the ground or other base.

The injector unit I is preferably of the type shown in anyone of theforegoing patents listed above and therefore the details of such unitare not illustrated. The unit I is disposed above a typical well-headassembly W which has a casing or other pipe C extending down into thewell below the ground level G and into which the tubing T is inserted inthe known manner. At the upper end of the injector unit I, a curvedguide is mounted over which the tubing T passes, with the curvature ofthe guide 30 being great enough to prevent any permanent distortion orbending of the tubing T as it is fed into or removed from the casing C.

The injector unit I includes drive rollers, which have therewithhydraulic motors Mll and MI2 (FIGS. 1 and 3). As will be explained indetail hereinafter in connection with FIG. 3, such motors Ml-l and MI-2serve to control the feeding of the tubing T from the reel unit R andalso the withdrawal of the tubing T from the well when the tubing T isto be wound back upon the reel unit R.

Referring now to the control system of FIG. 3 in particular, twohydraulic pumps, preferably of the fixed displacement type which aredriven by The pump with suitable throttle controls for ultimatelyregulating the speed of the lowering and raising of the tubing T withinthe casing C, are indicated at P- l and P2. The pump Pl is a highercapacity pump than the pump P--2. Both of the pumps P--l and P2 areconnected to a sump or reservoir through a pipe 36 which preferably hasa suction strainer 37 and a valve 38 therewith. A gauge 39 may also beincorporated to indicate the extent of the reduced pressure or vacuumbeing pulled by the pumps. The pump Pl discharges through line 40 whichconnects through valves V2 and V1 to a flow line 41 which flows to thehydraulic motors MI-l and MI-2. The return fluid from the motors MI-1and MI-2 flows through line 42, and through the valve V--1 to a returnline 42 which is connected to line 43 leading to a return filter 44 andultimately to the sump 35 through a valve 45. It should be noted that inFIG. 3, the sump 35 is shown as being separated, but it is the same sumpand they are interconnected or are integrally formed.

The pump P2 discharges water or oil therefrom through a pipe or line 46which passes through the valve V-Z when the valve V2 is in the openposition shown in FIG. 3. Fluid flows from the line 46 through the valveV-2 to the line 47 and then through a valve V-3 (FIG. 3) and line 48 tothe hydraulic motor MR for operating same. The discharge or return fromthe motor MR is through line 49 and valve V 3(FIG. 3) to the pipe ortubing 43 for ultimate return to the sump 35.

It should be noted that the valves V-l, V-2 and V-3 are shownschematically in FIG. 3 with arrows to indicate the positions of thevalves, and with the three positions of each valve designatedschematically. Thus, the first position on the right hand end of each ofthe valves is the normal flow position, the intermediate position ofeach of the valves is the cut off or closed position for each of suchvalves and the left hand position for each of the valves is the reverseflow position, as will be more evident hereinafter.

The extent of the pressure developed with the pump Pl may be regulatedthrough a bypass or relief valve 50, the opening of which may beadjusted in any known manner so as to regulate the amount of fluid fromthe line 40 which passes through a check valve 51, line 52 and the valveto a discharge line 53 which connects with the sump 35. A gauge 54 isconnected to he line 52 so that the pressure which is developed by thecontrol of the discharge through the relief valve 50 from the pump Plmay be indicated to the operator.

The pump PZ is also preferably connected to the relief valve 50 througha check valve 55. It is to be noted that the check valves 51 and 55 areconstructed so that the fluid flow from the pumps Pl and P2 cannotinterconnect with each other.

A needle valve 57 is mounted in a bypass line 58, together with a checkvalve 59 so that during the normal direction of rotation of the motor MRwhich is used for driving the drum of the reel unit R, the extent towhich such motor MR can be driven by the withdrawal of tubing Ttherefrom by the injection unit I is regulated, as will be more fullyexplained. Another needle valve 57 disposed in a line 58' with a one-waycheck valve 59' is preferably included so that in certain circumstanceswhere the motor MR is reversed in rotation when flow is through the line49 and discharges through the line 48, the extent of the driven actionon the motor MR is controlled in the same manner as previously explainedin connection with the needle valve 57.

A relief valve 60 is preferably included in conjunction with the motorMR which is set to open at a pressure which is greater than the normalpressure developed at the motor MR, for example, 500 p.s.i., so that thehigher pressure can be relieved and a portion of the fluid returnedthrough line 420 which communicates back through the line 43 to the sumpor reservoir 35. Suitable check valves 61 and 61' permit such return offlow to the relief valve 60, and a gauge 60a indicates the pressure atwhich such relief is occurring in the event this does happen in theoperation. Return check valves 62 and 62 are also preferably provided inthe circuit from the relief valve for safety purposes in the event thereis a back pressure developed in the line 42a which prevents the reliefflow therethrough.

In the operation or use of the control system of FIG. 3 in conjunctionwith the apparatus of this invention, the pumps P1 and P2 are operatedby driving same with a gasoline engine, diesel engine or other suitableprime mover (not shown) in the conventional way, with the pump Pldelivering a substantially greater volume of fluid than the pump P--2.lnitially, when lowering the tubing T down into the well or casing C,the relief valve 50 is set to open at a very low pressure. At that time,the pump P2 is supplying fluid under pressure to the reel motor MR so asto drive same in a direction tending to wind the tubing T upon the drum10, which would be counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 1. ln view of suchdriving action by the motor MR tending to wind the tubing T upon thedrum 10, it is necessary for the motors MI-l and MI-2 to be driven withenough force to pull the tubing T in opposition to the motor MR.

To cause the motors Ml-l and MI-2 to exert a pulling force on the tubingT, the relief valve 50 is adjusted so as to increase the pressure atwhich relief occurs through the valve 50 until there is some pulldeveloped on the tubing T by the motors Ml-l and Ml2. When such pull isindicated, the needle valve 57 is opened to some extent to short circuita part of the fluid being discharged from the reel motor MR, which cutsdown on the resistance of the motor MR to the unwinding of the tubing Tfrom the drum 10. The motor MR is actually being driven as a pump by thepulling of the tubing T from the reel R with the motors M1 and M2, sothat the fluid pressure relief provided by opening the needle valve 57serves to reduce the effectiveness of the fluid drive to the motor MRthrough the line 48. Thus, during the lowering of the tubing T into thewell, the tubing T is pulled by the motors Ml and M2 away from the reelR, while the motor MR resists such pulling action without preventing it,so as to maintain the portion of the tubing T between the reel R and theunit I under tension as the tubing T is fed from the drum 10 and islowered into the well.

When the tubing T is being removed or pulled out of the well casing C,the valve Vl is shifted so as to be in the reverse position indicated bythe position 70, which causes the motors Mll and Ml-2 to operate in thereverse direction. The lifting force provided by the pump Pl isregulated by adjusting the valve 50, as previously explained, so thatsufficient force is developed to lift the weight or load of the tubingT. At the same time, the reel motor MR is operated in a directiontending to wind the tubing T upon the drum 10 so as to maintain thetubing T under tension while winding it upon the reel drum [0.

During both the operations, running in and raising the tubing T, thespeed of the lowering or raising of the tubing T may be controlledwithin limits by the throttle on the engines operating the pumps P1 andP2.

In some situations, such as deep wells, the load of the tubing T in thewell is so high that it is difficult to lift it using the pump Pl, inwhich case, the valve V2 is switched to its reverse position 71, whichcauses the pump P2 to be connected to the motors Ml-1 and Ml2 whichoperate with a lower volume of fluid supplied at a higher pressure. Thehigher volume pump Pl is then connected to the reel motor MR when thevalve V2 is in the reverse position 71, and the relief valve 50 isadjusted to bypass some of the fluid as desired to control the pullingforce with the motor MR.

lt is to be noted that although the motor MR may be reversed by pushingthe valve V3 to the reverse position 72, this would only be for certainoperations unrelated to the normal operation ofthe apparatus of thisinvention. For example, it might be desirable to reverse the motor MRwhen tubing T is being fed therefrom without being introduced into awell and without the injector unit l working with it. However, normally,the motor MR is rotated in the same direction for both the feeding inofthe tubing T into the well casing C and the pulling of the tubing Tfrom the well or casing C so that, as previously explained, the tubing Tis in a substantially straight line between the reel unit R and theinjection unit l and is under tension at all times.

The foregoing disclosure and description of the invention areillustrative and explanatory thereof, and various changes in the size,shape, and materials as well as in the details of the illustratedconstruction may be made without departing from the spirit oftheinvention.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for feeding tubing into or out of a well or the like,comprising:

a reel having a fluid-actuated motor therewith for winding and unwindingtubing thereon;

an injector unit separate from and remotely spaced from said reel andhaving injector power means for injecting tubing substantiallyvertically into a well or the like and for withdrawing tubingsubstantially vertically from a well or the like;

a curved tubing guide disposed above said injector unit for directingtubing from said reel into said injector power means and having asubstantially vertical portion above said injector unit which curvesupwardly and with a lateral portion leading to said reel;

tubing disposed on said reel and spanning the space between said reeland said injector unit in a substantially straight line from said reelto said curved guide;

control means for said reel power means and said injector power meansfor maintaining the portion of said tubing spanning said space betweensaid reel and said injector unit under tension and in said substantiallystraight line regardless of the direction of movement of said tubingwith respect to said reel; and

said control means including means for driving said reel motor in adirection tending to wind the tubing on said reel and means for drivingsaid injector power means in a direction for feeding the tubing off ofsaid reel with a greater force than the force exerted by said reelmotor.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1, wherein:

said control means further includes:

means for driving said injector power means in a direction forwithdrawing the tubing from the well while said reel power means isdriven in said direction for winding the tubing on said reel, saidinjector power means having means therewith for exerting a sufficientlifting force to overcome the weight of the tubing in the well, and saidreel power means having means therewith for exerting a pulling force onthe tubing to maintain same under tension when winding said tubing onsaid reel.

3. The structure set forth in claim 1, wherein:

said injector power means is a fluid-actuated injector motor;

and

said control means further includes:

a first pump for supplying fluid under pressure to said reel motor; asecond pump for supplying fluid under pressure to said injector motor;and said second pump supplying fluid to said injector motor at a greaterrate than that supplied by said first pump to said reel motor. 4. Thestructure set forth in claim 3, wherein said control means furtherincludes:

bypass means for bypassing fluid relative to said first pump forregulating the speed of said reel motor with respect to the speed ofsaid injector motor. 5. The structure set forth in claim 3, wherein saidcontrol means further includes:

valve means for changing the flow of fluid from said first pump to saidinjector motor rather than to said reel motor, and for changing the flowof fluid from said second pump to said reel motor rather than to saidinjector motor, whereby heavier loads of tubing may be lifted with saidinjector motor than when said second pump is connected thereto.

6. The structure set forth in claim 3, wherein said control meansfurther includes:

valve means for reversing the flow of fluid from said second pump tosaid injector motor for reversing the direction of rotation of saidinjector motor for selectively obtaining either a feeding of the tubingfrom said reel or a withdrawal of the tubing from the well.

7. The structure set forth in claim 1, wherein:

said reel is disposed below said curved tubing guide; and

said vertical and lateral portions of said curved tubing guide areformed with a bend which is at least about but is on a gradual radius soas to prevent permanent bending of said tubing.

1. Apparatus for feeding tubing into or out of a well or the like,comprising: a reel having a fluiD-actuated motor therewith for windingand unwinding tubing thereon; an injector unit separate from andremotely spaced from said reel and having injector power means forinjecting tubing substantially vertically into a well or the like andfor withdrawing tubing substantially vertically from a well or the like;a curved tubing guide disposed above said injector unit for directingtubing from said reel into said injector power means and having asubstantially vertical portion above said injector unit which curvesupwardly and with a lateral portion leading to said reel; tubingdisposed on said reel and spanning the space between said reel and saidinjector unit in a substantially straight line from said reel to saidcurved guide; control means for said reel power means and said injectorpower means for maintaining the portion of said tubing spanning saidspace between said reel and said injector unit under tension and in saidsubstantially straight line regardless of the direction of movement ofsaid tubing with respect to said reel; and said control means includingmeans for driving said reel motor in a direction tending to wind thetubing on said reel and means for driving said injector power means in adirection for feeding the tubing off of said reel with a greater forcethan the force exerted by said reel motor.
 2. The structure set forth inclaim 1, wherein: said control means further includes: means for drivingsaid injector power means in a direction for withdrawing the tubing fromthe well while said reel power means is driven in said direction forwinding the tubing on said reel, said injector power means having meanstherewith for exerting a sufficient lifting force to overcome the weightof the tubing in the well, and said reel power means having meanstherewith for exerting a pulling force on the tubing to maintain sameunder tension when winding said tubing on said reel.
 3. The structureset forth in claim 1, wherein: said injector power means is afluid-actuated injector motor; and said control means further includes:a first pump for supplying fluid under pressure to said reel motor; asecond pump for supplying fluid under pressure to said injector motor;and said second pump supplying fluid to said injector motor at a greaterrate than that supplied by said first pump to said reel motor.
 4. Thestructure set forth in claim 3, wherein said control means furtherincludes: bypass means for bypassing fluid relative to said first pumpfor regulating the speed of said reel motor with respect to the speed ofsaid injector motor.
 5. The structure set forth in claim 3, wherein saidcontrol means further includes: valve means for changing the flow offluid from said first pump to said injector motor rather than to saidreel motor, and for changing the flow of fluid from said second pump tosaid reel motor rather than to said injector motor, whereby heavierloads of tubing may be lifted with said injector motor than when saidsecond pump is connected thereto.
 6. The structure set forth in claim 3,wherein said control means further includes: valve means for reversingthe flow of fluid from said second pump to said injector motor forreversing the direction of rotation of said injector motor forselectively obtaining either a feeding of the tubing from said reel or awithdrawal of the tubing from the well.
 7. The structure set forth inclaim 1, wherein: said reel is disposed below said curved tubing guide;and said vertical and lateral portions of said curved tubing guide areformed with a bend which is at least about 90* but is on a gradualradius so as to prevent permanent bending of said tubing.